In every aspect of human existence, change is a constant. Yet change that actually matters occurs only rarely. Even then, except in retrospect, genuinely transformative change is difficult to identify. By attributing cosmic significance to every novelty and declaring every unexpected event a revolution, self-assigned interpreters of the contemporary scene — politicians and pundits above all — exacerbate the problem of distinguishing between the trivial and the non-trivial.

Phi Beta Iota: This is one of Bacevich’s best pieces. He frames and then itemizes four converging vectors: the collapse of the freedom agenda; the Great Recession; the Arab Spring; and Europe’s demise, this time without an American rescue being possible. He quite adroitly illuminates the idiocy, ideology, and insipidness of all of the Republican candidates, while dismissing the incumbent in passing. What he does NOT cover is the depth of the corruption that created these four vectors, or the deep white-hot anger among the 99% that are now awake to the treason committed by their elected officials–not just in the USA, but across the Western world less the Nordics and The Netherlands.